PETALING JAYA: To get the attention of Umno Youth's 75,000 voting delegates at the party elections, two candidates vying for the post of movement deputy chief have turned to the Internet for help.

Lokman Noor Adam and Khairul Azwan Harun are using various social media platforms to reach out to the delegates.

Lokman has set up his own channel on YouTube to promote himself.

One of his video clips titled "Who is the best candidate?" features cartoon caricatures and excerpts of his speeches, and has been viewed 4,903 times.

"I am hoping that my campaign material will go viral and hopefully this will translate into votes," said Lok­man, 39, a former exco member of the movement and one of four candidates vying for the Youth No. 2 post.

Nothing beats the personal touch when campaigning but canvassing for support has become tougher due to the larger number of voters.

For candidates such as Lokman who are lesser-known and do not have the resources to travel all over to introduce themselves, the solution is to take their campaign online.

Lokman, who holds a Master's degree in management from Univer­siti Tun Abdul Razak, tracks his online popularity from the number of "Likes" and "Shares" on his Face­book postings, re-tweets of his Twitter messages and the returns from search engine queries on his name.

Khairul Azwan also has an online campaign. Better known on the Internet by the moniker "@Azwanbro", Khairul is a relatively well-known politician in his home state of Perak, where he is the state Umno Youth chief.

Khairul, 36, said he chose to go online because he wanted to reach out to voters in other states as well.

A series of YouTube clips touts him as a candidate who can help Umno Youth develop to the next level and shows the British-trained accountant attending meetings and mingling with villagers.

"It is not possible to meet everyone so this is how I introduce myself. This is in addition to sessions with small groups where I share my views on the way forward for Umno Youth," said Khairul.

What candidates such as Lokman and Khairul are targeting will be Umno's Facebook generation of members in the party wings, namely Umno Youth and Puteri Umno.

However, the two candidates ag­ree that nothing beats "the old fashioned way" of meeting voters in person.

Khairul is happy with how the online campaign is shaping up but still makes time to reach out to as many voting delegates as possible.

"Voters still want to see, feel and hear you in the flesh," said Khairul.

Lokman said: "Nothing beats the face-to-face approach, but with social media popular among the younger set, both approaches have become important for candidates like us."

A strict code of ethics for the candidates bars most forms of campaigning in a bid to stem money pol­itics but Lokman said his YouTube clips had been referred to the party management committee for a decision.

"The committee decided that it was okay to put clips to introduce ourselves and their decision was in turn conveyed to us during the last Umno Youth exco meeting," he said.

The proposed amendments to the Prevention of Crime Act (PCA) is to ensure Malaysians will not live in fear of crime happening in their own backyard, says Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He rejected claims that the PCA is the Government's move to revive the Internal Security Act (ISA), saying that the proposed amendments were dedicated to fighting organised crime.

"If the Government does not take serious action, more people will bec­ome victims and they will live in fear.

"I want to create an atmosphere where each Malaysian will feel safe in their own country, and this can be done through a serious commitment from the Government and giving priority to the security of a country," Najib told the Malaysian media at the end of a working visit to San Francisco and New York.

He said the PCA was different from the ISA, which vested huge powers in the Home Minister and police to make arrests without going through a court process.

"But this time (under the amended PCA), the decision will be made by a judge. So, if the police were to arrest anyone, they have to convince the judge that the particular individual should be detained.

"And we will make sure that no one will be victimised," he said, adding that a person would not be arrested merely for subscribing to any political ideology.

The proposed amendments to the PCA would enable the authorities to detain hardcore criminals for up to two years without trial.

This particular section of the PCA has incurred the wrath of Opposition politicians and some civil societies.

They claimed that the PCA was another form of the ISA. Asked to comment on the objections, Najib said: "It doesn't mean that we have to consult all stakeholders, but they are free to give us their views."

PUTRAJAYA: Consulting the Bar Council is merely a "courtesy" and deemed not necessary in the latest elevation of judges to the Federal and Appeal courts, said Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria.

"It (consulting the Bar) is not within the law. We consult when it is necessary," he said.

The head of the judiciary said there were no formal discussions because there are no provisions under the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) Act for input from the council.

He said the criteria for appointment of judges included accomplishments in resolving cases, quality of judgements, integrity, knowledge in the law, ability in the field judicial administration, professional experience and judicial temperament.

The JAC was established in 2009 to re-build public confidence in the judiciary. It currently comprises the top four judges, a serving Federal Court judge and four retired judges.

Among its functions are selecting suitably qualified persons who merit appointment as judges of the superior court for the Prime Minister's consideration and to receive applications from qualified persons for the selection of judges.

On judges who were late in writing their grounds of judgement, especially in criminal cases, he said while guidelines required them to be written in eight weeks, a certain degree of leniency was allowed for complicated cases.